Official: Tourism Bill Vital

COCOA BEACH — The executive vice president of the Florida Hotel-Motel Association blasted the state Legislature Wednesday for failing to pass a tourism promotion measure.

Tom Waits, who chaired the tourism task force that helped to draft the proposal, said that, without new promotional dollars, competition from other states threatens Florida's continued prominence in the tourism industry.

''As a body, the Legislature is not pro-tourism,'' Waits said. ''We've got to change that.''

Waits spoke at a meeting of the Cocoa Beach Area Tourism and Convention Council. The tourism bill would have imposed a surtax of half a cent on each doller in sales at hotels, nightclubs, attractions and campgrounds. That would have raised about $30 million annually for the state Division of Tourism, Waits said.

The division now operates on a $9 million annual budget, he said, only $4.5 million of which is spent to promote the state.

The tourism proposal called for increasing advertising to $20 million annually. The bill, which also would have made funds available to help local promotional efforts with matching grants, died in the legislative session this spring.

Waits said 47 states list tourism as one of their top three industries and are allocating budget dollars to promote it. Illinois, for example, has a $16 million advertising program aimed at keeping its traveling residents within the state, he said.

Waits and others within the industry are seeking to reintroduce the measure in 1987.

If new promotional money is not found, Waits said, ''We're going to be in trouble. We've got a lot of hotels to fill.''